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Alistair blows out a breath. “Well—how strong is the evidence?”
My silence makes him scowl.
“Fuck.”
“And double fuck,” I nod. “They buried it and masked it enough with so much bullshit that it’s hearsay at best.”
“The court of public opinion would burn him at the stake, though,” Alistair growls. “You release that, and Preston is as good as?—”
“I’m not releasing it.”
I look away, rage clouding my vision.
That fuck was right: I can’t use this. Yes, maybe it hurts him and costs him the Governor’s seat. Maybe. And maybe it doesn’t.
The one guaranteed casualty if I release this, though, is Fumi.
The world is a fucked up, unfair place, and the public hates women, especially women who challenge powerful men. This will dog her career and destroy her life. Maybe I have a silver bullet aimed at Preston’s head, but it goes through Fumi’s heart first.
And I will not let that happen.
“Gabriel—”
“I’m not releasing it, Alistair. It was a scare tactic, and it didn’t work.”
“The man put you in a holding cell. I think it’s fair to say it worked.”
“You know what I mean,” I growl. “The point was to get him to back down, and he didn’t. You know what happens if I put that out into the world.”
His mouth twists. “She’ll take the brunt of it.”
I nod.
“Well,” Alistair sighs, “then we need to switch gears, and fast. Because if Hall is one hundred percent sure you won’t release what you have on him, in twenty-four hours, sure as shit, he’ll be charging you with assault.”
28
FUMI
“Hey! Fumi! It’s me!”
I look up from the files I’ve been going over at the kitchen counter at the sound of Maeve’s voice.
“Hi!” I smile at her. Then my eyes turn cold when Amber walks into the kitchen behind her. At this point, any attitude I give her is less because I’m still mad at her for trying to flash Gabriel, and more because it’s just so much fun to watch her squirm when I give her this look.
“Amber,” I say icily.
She smiles awkwardly at me before turning to Maeve, who clearly doesn’t have a clue that her friend tried to show Gabriel her tits.
“I’ll go upstairs.”
“Cool, be right there.”
Maeve walks over to the fridge and pulls out a couple of seltzers. “We’re going over some of the prerequisite reading for this fall.”
She and Amber are both going to be freshman at NYU come September.
“Sorry, I’ll be out of your hair in a few. I need to head to the office anyway.”
